Docs · Fleet

Updates and release channels

Updating is the same command that installed Nodeau, on each machine, when you choose. Nodeau keeps working exactly as it is until you do, online or offline.

What am I running?#

nodeau version
nodeau version --json

nodeau v0.X.Y-beta.N (commit 1a2b3c4d, built 2026-09-22T22:50:18-04:00, channel beta, go1.26.5, linux/amd64)

The version in that sample is a placeholder. The build this documentation describes is the current beta channel, read from the channel you would install from.

The commit is compiled in, so two builds of the same source from different commits are different binaries. That is why the version string carries both.

Is there something newer?#

nodeau update
nodeau update --json

By default it only looks. It compares this machine's Nodeau with the published release channel and, if a cluster is reachable, shows what every machine in your fleet is running.

With --download, it finishes by telling you the one command that installs what it fetched.

Updating a machine#

The same command that installed it, then nodeau install:

curl -fsSL https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh | bash
nodeau install

• The bootstrap replaces the binaries in place, after checking the new archive's SHA-256 against the published manifest.
• nodeau install re-checks everything, skips what is done, and picks up anything the new release added: a new control-plane component, a new driver, a schema change. Running it again is always safe.

What an update keeps#

A replaced file and a running process#

Replacing a binary on disk leaves a process that is already running on the file it started with. So the installer restarts a fleet connector whose binary it replaced, and nodeau doctor names anything still running an older copy:

A package manager, a hand copy, or an install that could not reach the service manager all leave this state behind while the machine looks perfectly healthy, which is why doctor checks for it.

Updating several machines#

The easiest way is a rollout. nodeau fleet upgrade apply moves the whole fleet one machine at a time, workers first and the control-plane machine last, and checks each machine before the next. It needs Home Pro or Business and the fleet connected to your account. See upgrading a fleet.

To update by hand instead, work on the machine that runs your control plane:

nodeau fleet upgrade plan                            # see what would change first
curl -fsSL https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh | bash
nodeau install
nodeau update                                        # do the machines now agree?

nodeau install there updates the command line, the controller and the Nodeau agent on every machine in the fleet. The other machines' Nodeau runs as pods that the control plane manages, and Kubernetes replaces them one machine at a time, so there's nothing to run on the other machines themselves.

Plan for the workloads on the control-plane machine to stop and start again on that same machine while it updates, and for scheduling to pause until it's back: the upgrade plan lists what's running there so you can choose a quiet moment.

Release channels#

A channel is a named pointer to a version. beta is what https://get.nodeau.ai/install.sh resolves by default.

NODEAU_CHANNEL=beta bash install-nodeau.sh              # choose a channel
NODEAU_VERSION=v0.X.Y-beta.N bash install-nodeau.sh     # pin an exact version

A channel only ever moves forward. A version that was published and then withdrawn is never advertised again, so the channel always points at a build that went through the whole release process.

Seeing which build each installation runs#

Your account at app.nodeau.ai shows the Nodeau version each connected installation reports, and nodeau update compares every machine in a fleet with the published release. Machines that disagree with each other are the signal worth acting on.

Maintenance windows and a release for the whole fleet#

A maintenance window marks the hours when Nodeau may act on your machines on its own. When Nodeau Cloud holds one for your fleet:

• an approved rollout starts a machine only inside it, and a plan shows that machine as WAITING with the time the window next opens;
• work you ask for runs straight away, inside or outside a window: running a model, submitting a batch job, a placement you requested;
• nothing already running is touched when a window opens or closes;
• a window is a boundary for Nodeau's own actions rather than a job scheduler.

A channel policy says which release channel your fleet follows, and a plan refuses a release from any other.

You set both in your account at app.nodeau.ai, under Fleet, then Upgrade:

• Maintenance window: the days, the time it opens, how long it stays open and your time zone. The page shows whether it's open now, or when it next opens. Removing it means Nodeau has no window to wait for.
• Release channel: your fleet follows the channel Nodeau publishes, or stays on the release it runs now until you change it.

Everyone in your organisation can see both. Changing them takes permission to operate the fleet. Plans and rollouts use both, and every plan says whether it could see them (see maintenance windows and channel policy).

Staying on a build#

Moving forward is the supported direction, and there are good reasons to stay where you are for a while:

• Pin an exact version with NODEAU_VERSION when you install, and a machine stays on it until you choose otherwise. Nodeau never updates itself in the background.
• nodeau fleet upgrade plan holds back any machine whose target is older than what it runs, and names the direction, so a plan never quietly moves a machine backwards.

Installing an older binary is not a way back. A control plane that has applied a newer schema keeps it, and an older binary on top of it is a combination nothing has been tested against. Pinning a superseded version also depends on its artifacts still being published. If a release gives you trouble, the fastest route to a fix is a support bundle and a message.

Machines that are offline#

An offline machine keeps working exactly as it is, and its entitlement keeps verifying offline until it expires (see expiry and grace).

To update one with no internet, carry the archive to it yourself and run the bootstrap with NODEAU_BASE_URL pointed at wherever you put it. The checksum check is the same either way.

If an update stops partway#

The bootstrap installs nothing when the checksum does not match, and says so. If nodeau install stops partway through, run it again: it re-checks everything and carries on, and the ownership ledger means it never re-decides who owns a component.

For anything you cannot explain:

nodeau doctor
nodeau support bundle

These docs describe the current release, the beta channel. Spotted something wrong or missing? Tell us. A report from a machine we have never seen is the most useful thing we get.